The Command Board
by StarLightSeraph
Summary: Oneshot: It was a little board game Terra, Aqua, and Ven loved to play together but it wasn't little to Eraqus. Command Board game with the apprentices.


**This just came about me playing the Command Board and I swear, Aqua cheated. I was about to win and she moved me on one of her panels and I lost nearly two thousand GP. Enough of my ranting.**

**I based this on one of my command board games where I was playing as Ven. I do not own KH, BBS, or the Command Board System. I am just writing a little one shot of the main characters playing the Command Board.**

**Onward!**

**The Command Board**

Disregarding the fact the skies over the Land of Departure had constant sunrise coloration during the day, this morning there were still a few stars and cerulean blending the violets, crèmes and pale gold. Usually no one was up this early but today was an exception.

All three apprentices had a reason to wake up before their Master.

Ventus crept past the bedrooms holding a few boxes, colored green and purple. The halls were still dark but anyone could see his big blue eyes watching for anything that moved. If his own shadow came alive, he'd probably mirror a deer caught in the headlights.

'_Just a little further…gotta get down the stairs-hmm?' _Ven paused mid-step when the soft sounds of snoring were heard behind one of the doors. Ven's first assumption was Terra but he was outside with Aqua. That left one other person. _'I didn't think Master Eraqus would snore…'_

Laughing to himself lightly, he turned and started going down the stairs as quietly as possible.

_Creak…_

Ven froze when his boot planted on the stair step, said step making a loud sound. His pupils were so small, his eyes were almost completely white. After a few seconds, Ven let out a breath and continued on.

_Snort!_

Ven's speed kicked in as he hurried out of the castle, cursing himself for not taking off his armored boots. The last thing he needed was waking up the Master. Aqua would be disappointed and Terra would be ticked. They never got a chance to play their board games in between training, sleeping, and eating.

Terra pushed two more large boxes together. Just two in about thirty boxes that had been arranged in a strange but accurate path he had put together. He dusted his hands off from the dust and dirt as he moved away. "All yours, Aqua."

"Kay." Aqua raised her blue and silver keyblade to incant a zero gravity spell, the arrangement of colored boxes being raised high above the courtyard. It was so high; you would have had to go nearly nighty degrees to just see a faint outline. Luckily, the Land of Departure was not a windy or cold place.

"What's left?" Aqua asked, walking over as her keyblade disappeared in pink petals.

"I think it's just the prize and starting cube." Terra said. "Ven should have those. But he's taking a long time."

"Hopefully he didn't wake up the Master." Aqua said, a little concerned.

"…yeah, hopefully."

"Hey!" Terra and Aqua looked behind at Ven who was running down the stairs, a pout on his face as he tried to glare at his friends. "You know it takes a while to sneak around the castle when you're trying to be quiet."

"Which, for you, is an accomplishment unto itself." Terra teased as he took the boxes.

Ven handed the last one, confused and still frustrated. "What does that mean?"

"Just that it's impossible to keep you quiet when the rest of us are trying to sleep." Terra replied.

Ven was still trying to be mad but instead he started laughing, Terra joining in after he thought about how childish their argument was. Aqua interrupted with a harsh shush to the two boys. "Zip it, boys. Just because we're outside doesn't mean we're out of the woods yet."

"Oh…right." Aqua shook her head before going to the boxes. Ventus made a zipper like motion over his mouth which Terra shook his head at, Ven just grinning. Aqua used the combined spells of Zero Gravity and Magnet to uplift the boxes.

"Okay, everyone have their cards?" Aqua asked.

"Uh…"

"Honestly, the two of you are hopeless." Aqua said as she handed them each a little deck of cards colored gold.

"Ven's the airhead here, Aqua. I just forgot." Terra said, accepting the cards.

Ven smirked. "Yeah right mister I'm always on level ground."

"Enough. Okay, let's figure out who goes first." Aqua said. The trio glanced at the three dice off to the side. They were huge but with a combo of magnet, zero gravity, and aero they could be used just like regular sized dice. Each one was colored, green, orange, and blue.

"Ready?" Pointing their keyblade, each wielder cast aero and the dice threw themselves into the air. After a few spins, they landed on the ground and each had a number. Highest number went first.

Ven leapt in joy. "Six! None of you can beat that!"

Terra saw he had a four and Aqua had a one. "So the order goes Ven, me, and Aqua. Let's get started." Terra said as their gliders were summoned and they headed up the floating board. They're dice behind them. Once they were placed in the little bubble above, they landed on the large golden cube with a keyhole on it, their starting port. The board was in an arrange of three squares, the right side connected by a long bridge while the other was connected by a warp pad to the adjacent cube.

"Ready?" Ven asked. His first move was to draw five cards, four magic and one attack. He grinned and took up two of magic cards. "Three Dice."

"Getting ahead already?" Terra asked, knowing this was an obvious move. Ven always tried to get a big head start.

"Always do." Ven said with a grin, the two cards becoming two balls of energy that spun around him. He then sent off a simple aero at the three dice and then tumbled around before planting themselves down. He had to count them up but he grinned anyway.

"Six!" he turned around and headed for the nearest checkpoint, the blue heart checkpoint north of their starting position.

"You could have just rolled one dice and gotten the same number. You wasted your cards." Aqua said.

"I know." Ven said as he reached the blue cube, glowing as he made his mark. "But I'm still ahead of you two." He got on the purple prize cube and managed to jump roll it to the end of the dislodged path and drew another card. "That's three hundred points for me and an Action card!"

"It's only the first round." Aqua reminded him. "You still need five thousand for-"

"Lighten up, Aqua." Terra said as he got ready to play his turn. "We're supposed to be having fun."

Casting his own magnet and aero, Terra didn't use his cards for extra dice. He had a different idea. "Three." He headed forward and turned, landing on a blank cube that had a number on it for a hundred and fifty. At the beginning of the game, they each got one thousand game points and had to get to five thousand and race back to the starting cube to win the game. Buying cubes for tolls helped and for that you needed cards and GP.

"I'll pay one-fifty to buy this cube." Terra said, the cube becoming red with a picture of a key on it. "Alright! You know the rules, land on my cubes, you pay the toll."

With Terra's turn ending, Aqua cast her combo of spells. _'I need something more or less than three.' _She was going in the same direction as Terra but she didn't want to lose GP so early in the game.

"Alright, four." Aqua headed down and past Terra onto the cube right next to his. "I'll by this one for one eighty." With the mark of a magician's hat upon a blue panel, Aqua now had her own toll. "Nice!"

"My turn!" Ven said, getting a hand ready again. "Three Dice!"

There was a groan and laugh at his predicted move. But once he rolled his dice, he found it to be another number that he could have easily gotten with one die. "Three!"

"Not getting very far, are you, Ven?" Terra teased as Ven headed forward. Ven however saw one cube in his path and grinned. "Oh yeah? Just watch me!"

Ven was teleported to the western square and then moved down, landing on a purple and gold panel. "See! The Keyblade Glider can move me to any panel which means I get one more checkpoint for me! Ta-da!" Ven summoned up his keyblade glider which looked like an air board and landed on a green checkpoint only two panels away.

"Another three hundred and another magic card. Thank you!"

"Looks like he was thinking clearly, Terra." Aqua said with a laugh.

"More like he just got lucky." Terra said with a teasing laugh as he got ready to play. "Six and…alright!" Terra added the yellow checkpoint to his list and draws an attack card, moving to the same square arrangement Ven was on. "No following, Terra!" Ven said.

Terra smirked as he headed north, opposite of the keyblade glider that he could have gotten and landed on another panel. "I'll buy for three hundred." He said. "This one is for you, Ven."

"More like for you." Ven countered.

Aqua had done her roll during their argument and rolled a three, ending up on a star panel, a bonus cube. _'For two hundred and fifty…well, they're both coming my way.' _She went ahead and bought the panel, the two boys stopping to look over as they saw the panel right out of the teleportor was now owned by Aqua. She smiled.

"This is for both of you." Aqua said.

On cue, both boys had their shoulder's slump. "We're doomed…" Ven moaned before rolling again. This time, he took up the action card. "GP Protector." It was a wise choice, even if he didn't land on a panel controlled by his friends' this round, Aqua and Terra were notorious for buying nearly every panel there was available.

"I roll!" Ven got a three and decided to go back the way he came, landing just out of Terra and Aqua's reach. "Hah, can't catch me yet!" He said to them, mostly to Terra since he was right in front of him.

"Is that so?" Terra challenged. "My turn then." His roll was a three which made him go around and land on a particularly expensive panel. "Four-fifty, not happening. Your turn, Aqua."

"Ready." Aqua rolled next but was disappointed to find only one come up. Instead of teleporting, she stepped ahead onto the prize cube. Rolling it the rest of the way would give her more GP anyway.

Ven rolled two dice with his saved magic card and got, once again, a six. "Man, I just can't get any higher than that." He muttered as he teleported over, glad he wasn't stopping at Aqua's panel. Course, he had two options. Go south and land on Terra's panel or steal the Prize Cube from Aqua.

He went north and took the prize Cube, making Aqua land on the shorter panel that took away GP. "Sorry, Aqua!"

"No you're not, oh no!" Terra snapped his fingers to get Ven's attention and did an air five for outsmarting the smart one. Aqua had lost one hundred GP, not a hefty loss but a loss on her part anyway.

It was even worse when Ven finished rolling the prize cube and it disappearing, giving him five hundred GP, a fifth of that being Aqua's. "Thank you! And thank you, Aqua!"

"You're not welcome, Ven!" Aqua shouted back as the prize cube came back.

Terra shook his head before rolling a six, gaining the green checkpoint and teleporting over but taking the plunge and landing next to Aqua. "Oh well, I can't go the other way since I already have that checkpoint." He said.

"Oh yeah…I still need that one…" Ven muttered, slapping his forehead for forgetting.

Aqua rolled next and got a three, joining Ven on the Prize Cube. Ven grinned. "Fancy meeting you here." He said.

"I'll get my GP back." Aqua said.

Ven just decided to roll in silence, gaining a three and landing on the starting panel. "If you has bought a panel, then you could have leveled it up, Ven." Aqua called out.

Ven looked over and shrugged. "Oh well, I'll get one by the end of the game. Besides, I got the GP Protector anyway." He replied. "You're turn, Terra."

Terra nodded and cast his magic, earning him a six. That got him out of the GP stealing grid and earned him a blue checkpoint. "Alright! I'm catching up." Taking a few more steps, he landed on the starting cube with Ven.

"Uh oh. She's going to scold you too." Ven said, Terra seeing Aqua glance at them.

"Best we not anger her." Terra said, their inside joke making Ven laugh. Terra continued his turn. "I'll level up one of my panels for ninety GP. Happy now, Aqua?"

"Don't patronize me, Terra." Aqua said as she cast her magic and moved forward two spaces and also increased a panel's level.

"What's got her?" Ven asked.

"She just doesn't want the game to end." Terra said. "And she can be pretty competitive when she wants to be." He pushed Ven forward. "Your turn."

"Right!" Ven rolled only a one because he was out of usable cards, landing on a very cheap panel. He looked down and then grinned. "Hey guys! I'm going to buy this panel for fifty!" The panel became green, the owner looking extremely proud of him.

"Congratulations, Ven, but your toll is pretty small compared to ours." Terra said, clapping.

"Stop stealing my thunder!"

Terra just decided to roll, finding a four and running past Ven. "Past you, Ven and I'm taking the Prize Cube!" He rolled it a few spaces, Ven swallowing since he was planning on taking the prize cube. He was so distracted with his thoughts to counter that Aqua passed him by and landed on the bonus panel just beynd the gap.

"You're getting behind!" Aqua said as she bought the inexpensive bonus panel for one-fifty.

Ven saw Aqua and Terra ahead of him and quickly rolled his dice. "Come on, give me something-" The dice landed on a six and Terra paled on his prize cube. "Six! Prepare to be left in my dust!" Ven sped past Aqua and stopped at Terra, grinning evilly before rolling the prize cube forward, Terra falling as he lost GP.

"Oh no…" Terra groaned. His eyes then went towards Ven who was crouching down on the edge of his prize cube.

"How the mighty have fallen." Ven said.

Terra however rolled his own dice and it was Ven's turn to pale. "Six." Terra took the cube and pushed Ven down to the GP taking panel as he sped around the corner, landed on the red checkpoint and landed just outside of the steal zone. Now he was ahead.

Ven rubbed the back of his head while shouting at Terra for pushing him off. Even though the GP Protector had saved him from losing GP, the fall still hurt. Aqua watched them argue like children as she stood at the intersection. _'I better take the Prize cube back. I can get extra GP if I do.' _She cast her magic and got a four. Once she got her red checkpoint and was on the prize cube she whistled, gaining their attention.

"Just play the game. You guys an fight each other later." Aqua reminded them. "Ven, go."

Ven grudgingly got to the red checkpoint, gaining a magic card that did bring a smile to his face. He was still ahead in points but not enough to win. He nodded to Terra and he rolled a three landing on a green panel owned by a certain airhead.

"Oh no…" Terra muttered. Ven's laughter was heard across the way while Aqua snickered.

"Who's the cocky one now? You landed on my panel which means you have to pay me some of your GP!" Ven shouted, milking this for all it was worth. And it was worth thirty one GP.

Aqua shook her head as she rolled and six, taking her checkpoint and taking the prize cube around, half way getting the prize that pushed up her winnings. "That's the way! You're turn Ven!" she called as the prize cube reappeared.

Ven quickly used his magic card to get two dice. "Come on, give me a six or more!" the two dice stopped with a six and a five. "Eleven!" Ven hurried past his classmates who had wide eyes. He reached the starting cube and did a little dance. He hadn't won; he was just extremely ahead. "That's a full lap for me, a thousand points to me and five cards…" Ven said with a grin as he marched to the end of his roll, the yellow checkpoint. "And the yellow checkpoint! Whose ahead now!"

"You are…" Aqua admitted solemnly.

"Just finish your turn." Terra said.

Ven nodded. "Alright, Terra, your turn."

Within the castle, Eraqus slowly awoke to the sounds of birds, soft winds and laughing apprentices…wait…laughing apprentices. Eraqus always woke well rested and was able to access his mind easily but this time, the assumptions were coming faster than ever. The sun was just now up, casting violets, lavenders, and creams across his homeworld's skies. It was still far too early for his apprentices to be up unless there was a special training session, magic lesson, or education. He had done nothing of the sort which left the next suggestion: early personal training.

That one was easily dashed since the laughter was too frequent and there was some teasing amongst the voices of his apprentices. The last option was gaining frustration in his temple. They were playing that live sized board game again.

Grabbing his coat, he began his walk to the courtyard. It wasn't that he didn't like his apprentices having some play time in between all the lessons keybearers had to go through. He welcomed some hobbies that brought the three closer. He did not like them going against his back to play their game. The reason he didn't like their 'Command Board' as they called it was because the height was dangerous for none fliers, rare wind storms could knock them off the board, just too many risks for them to do their game so high in the air.

Eraqus had a right to be worried about the three teens that were his children.

The doors opened, exposing the Master to the sunrise and the teasing voices grew louder.

"I'm going to win!" Ven sung as he hopped from one panel to the next, something that made Eraqus worried.

"Not if you keep landing on my tolls!" Aqua shouted.

Ven stopped at a pane and apprantly lost some points from Aqua's panel but was still grinning. "Doesn't matter. I just have to get around this corner, get a checkpoint and right back to the winning panel! Besides, you guys are two thousand points behind me and I've got two magic cards. I see a win in my future."

'_None of you are going to win…' _Eraqus thought as he descended the steps, watching as Terra started to move across the board. By their positions, he was the closest to Eraqus and should be able to hear him.

"Terra!"

The brunette gulped as he looked down, seeing the Master having his disappointed and frustrated look at him. "Master?" he asked, hoping things would not go as he knew they would probably go. Playing dumb worked so well for Ven, why not him?

"Are you playing that Command Board again?" Eraqus asked. He wanted a confirmation from him, despite that the command board was already being played right before his eyes.

Terra hated that stare because he felt guilty. And he hated lying to Eraqus. He was in a catch twenty two. He was in trouble for playing the command board anyway but if he lied or tried to play dumb again, it would be even worse. _'They're going to kill me for this…' _Terra thought as he sighed.

"Yes, Master…" He replied as Aqua landed on a checkpoint, deciding to upgrade one of her panels.

"Call Aqua and Ven then. The game is over and I want you three down here before you break your necks." Eraqus ordered.

"Yes sir." Terra knew it was game over now so he shouted over to Ven, knowing he was going to be the hardest to convince. Even with the Master's glaring up at them. "Ven, game's over! Get down!"

Ven had rolled and started heading forward, landing on Aqua's panel and having to pay a toll. "Oh well, I still have enough to win. I'll win next turn…heh heh." Ven said to himself, ignoring Terra's shout.

"Ven, are you listening?"

"Huh?" Ven looked to Terra but thought he was teasing him. "Oh? You think I need to buy a panel? Fine, I'll buy this one!"

Terra saw the blue panel had a number three on it. Ven was about to buy Aqua's panel for nearly three thousand GP. Now this was about making sure Ven didn't do something idiotic.

"No! Wait, Ven!"

Aqua's panel became green and Ven lost his chance at winning. Terra let out a groan and shook his head. "Terra?" Aqua asked, her eyes showing she was wanting the win but still needed to wait her turn. He just waved for a pass, too shocked and sad to even continue, making Aqua roll the given number she needed to reach the starting panel.

"That's the way!" Aqua said, the panels glowing as they showed off the winner.

Ven's jaw dropped as he looked to his number of points. "Wait…what? But I thought-" he gasped when he looked down at the panel. Aqua had upgraded her panel that he had unluckily stepped on and beause of Terra, he paid his winnings to buy it, giving her all the points necessary to win.

"This is your fault Terra!" Ven shouted. "You made me lose with your constant teasing!"

"I wasn't teasing you! I was trying to get your attention!" Terra shouted.

Aqua just looked in between both boys as she allowed the command board to float back down slowly.

"My attention? Well you got it! Now we both lost and I was so close to having a five score winning streak!" Ven shouted back.

"Listen, no one won because the Master told me to end the game!" Terra shouted making both his classmates stop and ask, "The Master?"

Terra nodded and pointed down with a sigh, their eyes following his finger. Aqua covered her eyes in shame as Ven sulked, pouting. "Aw man…no more desert for a week…" he whined.

"No kidding…" Aqua said.

The command board landed and each apprentice got off the panels, the elder of the two looking ashamed as they kept their heads down while the youngest had his head down and seemed to be holding back a few tears.

Eraqus looked them all over before sighing. "You all rose up before the sun to play your game after I said no and gave reasons why? Do you admit you three went behind my back?"

"Yes Master…" they answered together.

"You realize that your antics could have cause injury to yourselves or your friends if there was a change in weather or a spell miscast?"

"Yes Master."

Eraqus sighed. "I am disappointed in you three." He said, striking a chord in their hearts, a chord of guilt. "I know this game is fun for you three. It was something you three came up with together so it has meaning. However…" This was when the three looked up, seeing the grim expression change. "…since you all realize your consequences, I will let this slide."

"Master?" Ventus said out of reflex.

"But you must ask for permission first before you are to play this game again. If you go against my wishes again, I won't be so lenient." Eraqus said. "Is that understood?"

The trio exchanged looks of gratitude, relief, and excitement before nodding to their Master. "Yes sir!"

Glad to see smiles on his apprentices, Eraqus gestured for them to return to the castle for breakfast and soon, training. "Good. Now lets get you all some breakfast. Once done, you three can move these cubes back to where they belong." Eraqus said.

They all nodded and began to follow along but Terra stopped, looking back his Master. "Master?"

"What is it, Terra?" Eraqus replied.

"The next time we play the command board, would you join us?" Terra asked.

Ven and Aqua turned right back around, surprised by Terra's question just as much as Eraqus was. It was…startling to say the least. "Well, I sup-"

"That would be awesome!"

Ven's shout and wide eyes marked his enthusiasm. "Master, that would be so cool if you joined in! The Command Board is really easy to learn and maybe we can make a bigger course! We could probably even do tag teams!"

"That would be a lot of fun." Aqua said. "We could probably even stretch the course all over the castle grounds. It's always more fun with more people."

Ven nodded and looked to Eraqus, all eyes on the Keyblade Master. "What do you say, Master?"

Looking to each smiling face, Eraqus could only sigh and smile in reply. "Well, I certainly can't ignore such an invitation."

"That means yes, right?" Ven asked.

Eraqus nodded and Ven jumped in the air in glee, Aqua laughing lightly and Terra smiling. "Thanks, Master." Terra said, looking forward to the game they could all play together.

After all, maybe this could turn into a family game or maybe it already was.

**Ah, just something that came up. I hope you all enjoyed it. If some of the numbers were off then I apologize. I just wanted to do something a little fun for the apprentices and their master.**

**But you have to admit, the Command Board is quite fun.**

**Read and Review please!**


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